The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim flew away with the game of the year trophy at the Spike Video Game Awards over the weekend.

The dragon-slaying epic also won as best role-playing game, and Skyrim developer Bethesda Softworks was selected as the studio of the year on Saturday at the ninth annual Spike Video Game Awards, which honours outstanding achievements within the gaming industry over the past year.

"We poured ourselves into this for the past three years," said Skyrim game director Todd Howard.

Valve's sci-fi puzzler Portal 2 bounced away with the most awards, winning five trophies for best PC game, multiplayer and downloadable content, as well as best performance by female human for Ellen McLain as GLaDOS and male human for Stephen Merchant as Wheatley.

Other titles winning multiple trophies included Rocksteady's superhero sequel Batman: Arkham City for best character for the Joker and best action-adventure, adapted and Xbox 360 game; Supergiant Games' role-playing fable Bastion as best downloadable game, song and original score; and the latest entry in Nintendo's Zelda franchise, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, which was chosen as the best motion and Wii game.

The fantastical 25-year-old Zelda role-playing series itself became the first gaming franchise to be inducted into the show's hall of fame. Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto from Japan was on hand to accept the honour.

"None of this would be possible without you," Miyamoto told the crowd. "We all at Nintendo are humbled by your support."

Chuck star and avid gamer Zachary Levi hosted the ninth annual ceremony at Sony Pictures Studios, appearing on stage on stage alongside three-dimensional "augmented reality" versions of characters and weapons from game of the year nominees.

The two-hour extravaganza, which featured performances from The Black Keys and Deadmau5, put more emphasis on upcoming games than awards though.

The show featured never-before-seen footage from such titles as Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6 Patriots and BioShock Infinite. It also served as the launch pad for newly announced games like The Last of Us, Fortnite and Alan Wake's American Nightmare.

Other winners included Mortal Kombat as best fighting game, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception as best graphics, World of Warcraft developer Blizzard as gamer god and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 as best shooter.

"This is awesome, especially in a year like this when we have so many good games coming out, especially multiplayer games like Gears of War, which is amazing," said Robert Bowling, creative strategist at Modern Warfare 3 co-developer Infinity Ward.

The winners of most of the show's categories were chosen by an advisory council, while the best trailer and most anticipated game winners were selected by viewer votes. The stealthy historical title Assassin's Creed: Revelations was awarded the best trailer trophy, and sci-fi saga Mass Effect 3 won for most anticipated game.

Best Song in a GameWinner: Build that Wall (Zia's Theme) by Darren Korb - BastionRunners up: Exile Vilify by The National - Portal 2, I'm Not Calling You a Liar by Florence + the Machine - Dragon Age II, Setting Sail, Coming Home (End Theme) by Darren Korb - Bastion, Want You Gone by Jonathan Coulton - Portal 2